Will Apple help block Telegram? And if not, then what?

In Russia, Telegram has more than 15 million users

The American company Apple began blocking updates to Telegram back in April 2018, but reported this only now. Users noticed that at the same time, push messages from Telegram stopped coming to Apple devices. What can this lead to?

"Unfortunately, Apple is blocking Telegram from updating its iOS application globally since mid-April", – says the message in the section "Frequently Asked Questions". At the same time, users of Android systems continue to receive updates, including the latest version of the rules concerning the privacy of personal data, stresses in Telegram.

Most users in Russia prefer Android: for the last three months (February 18 – May 18, 2018) LiveInternet recorded 65 million visits to sites with Android and 20 million from Apple devices.

Why does Apple limit Telegram?

The corporation does not officially comment on the situation. Previously, Apple limited updates to applications that violated the rules set by it.

In 2016, the entertainment service Spotify suffered due to the fact that he used his own mechanisms of working with customers and paying around by Apple. Spotify had to agree to the requirements of Apple, and now the updates go to the App Store.

In 2015, Apple limited the update to Breaking’s news application due to the fact that the illustration of his work mentioned the competitor Apple – the Android operating system.

But, most likely, Telegram updates are limited precisely because of the requirements of Roskomnadzor, says the creator of the general director of the hosting provider DipHost Philip Kulin, who monitors the register of banned sites of Roskomnadzor.

"This conclusion can be drawn from the date – the middle of April. Moreover, Roscomnadzor’s letters to Apple could not even be, like all large corporations, they could monitor the situation themselves", – the expert says.

"The decision to block the Apple solution does not affect, – said Kulin. – Users themselves find ways to bypass locks, take updates from other places, use VPN [virtual private networks that help circumvent locks]. If you look globally, those who would stop using Telegram, have not used it for a long time already on Apple".

Roskomnadzor began to restrict access to Telegram in Russia from April 16. The reason for the blocking was the refusal to provide the Federal Security Service of Russia with encryption keys for users’ correspondence.

The messenger continues to work, although at the peak of the hunt for it, Roskomnadzor blocked about 20 million network addresses, and as of May 30, about 11 million addresses have been blocked.

In early 2018, Apple for a short time removed Telegram from its store because of "illegal content"

This week Roskomnadzor sent Apple a letter demanding to stop the distribution of the Telegram messenger in Russia and the dispatch of its push notifications.

These pop-up windows on the smartphone screen with information Telegram uses to download new network addresses and bypass locks.

Roskomnadzor demanded from Apple to report within a month about what was done, threatening otherwise "violation of the functioning of the App Store". This half-measure, like blocking updates to the application Telegram in the App Store, was not mentioned in the requirements of Roskomnadzor.

Will Apple listen to Roskomnadzor? Option – yes

International IT corporations do not publicly report on their negotiations with Roskomnadzor. The Office also reports regularly on progress in the negotiations with them and on the new deadlines for fulfilling their demands.

In 2015, Roskomnadzor said that Apple and Google began to transfer personal data of Russians to the territory of the country, as required by the new law. The same process allegedly started Twitter.

If Apple removes Telegram from the application store, it can still be installed from the side, although this is more complicated than on Android. To do this, you will need to download the installer ipa file and use the Apple Configurator application. At the moment, beta testers of applications use it.

Option – no

Apple’s net sales in Russia for 2016 amounted to $ 2 billion – less than a percent of the world. The corporation can afford to lose the Russian market.

But in China, it is forced to do the will of the authorities and does not encrypt data on the cloud storage iCloud.

The image losses in the event that Apple fully complies with Roskomnadzor may cost the corporation more than the Russian market.

The creator of Telegram Pavel Durov in 2018 plans to open on the basis of a messenger block platform TON

If Apple does not comply, then in a month, when Russia will host the World Cup, Roskomnadzor can file a lawsuit against Apple and begin blocking push notifications.

In this case, not only Telegram will suffer, but also such important functions as notification of banks and mail services with security codes. Will be blocked "pushes" and other services. This function is often used by social networks Facebook, Twitter and "In contact with".

"It is difficult to deny the fact that today the smartphone is one of the most important gadgets in our modern digital life. And the applications to it – this is what makes smartphones themselves millions of times more useful for us, – says the director of Parallels Access management software Alex Patsay. “And it’s hard to imagine the magnitude of the disaster, if suddenly the application stores will be inaccessible, and smartphones will again turn into a pumpkin".